The present invention concerns an archery device for assisting in producing accurate shots. More particularly, it concerns a bowstring release mechanism with a programmable time delay.
Many archers in both hunting and target shooting experience inaccurate shots due to flinching or movement at the critical time of releasing the bowstring to launch an arrow. Flinching or movement can be caused by anticipation of a shot, physical breakdown, or mental deterioration.
Anticipation of the shot, or target anxiety, often causes tension and excessive movement in the bow due to the expectation of the coming explosion and recoil of the shot. After drawing the bowstring and arrow, the archer takes aim. Physical breakdown of the shot normally occurs when the archer has aimed too long. The maximum ideal holding period is 5-7 seconds. Thus, when an archer is at full draw for too long, his or her muscles begin to weaken and shooting form breaks down causing an inaccurate shot. Finally, mental deterioration occurs due to the mind's inability to concentrate on more than one thing at a time. During execution of a shot, the archer should be focussed exclusively on aiming. Focussing on other events such as gently releasing the bowstring or a trigger, utilizing a proper breathing technique and exercising self control to draw down if all the requisite conditions to a good shot are not met, may inhibit the archer from maintaining a proper site picture and thus result in an inaccurate shot.
Use of conventional mechanical or electrical release mechanisms do not address or alleviate these concerns. The archer must still perform the aforementioned requisite conditions along with aiming during the critical time of shot release thereby increasing the likelihood of flinching or movement during that time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,957 illustrates this limitation. The '957 patent discloses a release mechanism for use with a two handed bow activated by a trigger switch on one of the hand grips. At the critical time of releasing the bowstring, an archer still must be concerned with gently activating the trigger, utilizing a proper breathing technique, exercising self-control to draw down the bow if the requisite conditions are not met and maintaining a proper site picture or focus on the target. Attempting to achieve all these conditions at the critical time increases the likelihood of mental deterioration and physical breakdown. Furthermore, because the archer knows the bowstring will release immediately upon activation of the switch, anticipation of the shot and the associated movement or flinching will only compound the difficulty of achieving an accurate shot.
Therefore, a substantial need exists for a device which alleviates archer movement or flinching at the critical time of bowstring release.